Newly elected FIFA president Gianni Infantino has pledged to restore FIFA’s image.
The 45-year-old lawyer is from Brig in the Valais region of Switzerland, less than 10km from Blatter’s hometown of Visp.
Blatter was voted in on five occasions, including last May, but he stepped aside days later amid allegations which led to a six-year ban from football-related activity, which he is contesting.
Infantino will serve the remaining term of office for which Blatter was elected last May, meaning there will be a further election in 2019.
He told congress: “Dear friends, I cannot express my feelings in this moment. I told you I went through a journey, an exceptional journey, a journey which made me meet a lot of fantastic people, who love football and breathe football and live football every day.
“We will restore the image of Fifa and the respect of Fifa and everyone in the world will applaud us.
“I want to work with all of you together in order to restore and rebuild a new era of Fifa where we can put again football at the centre of the stage.
“Fifa has gone through sad times, moments of crisis, but those times are over. We need to implement the reform and implement good governance and transparency. We also need to have respect.
“We’re going to win back this respect through hard work, commitment, and we’re going to make sure we can finally focus on this wonderful game that is football.”
Five candidates had been in the running to succeed Blatter, but South African Tokyo Sexwale withdrew his candidacy moments before the first round of voting.
The four remaining candidates were vying for 207 votes from Fifa’s member associations (Kuwait and Indonesia are suspended).
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